


Not a Hero

by Linkobrata



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcoholism mention, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Supers and Villans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 22:12:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7332622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linkobrata/pseuds/Linkobrata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Colin is like any normal kid.  He goes to school; gets straight A's; participates in Gymnastics; gets beaten up by his dad and ignored my his mum.  Well...Suppose it's not quite normal.<br/>One day he wakes up and finds his room in total disarray, as though a tornado slammed through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "One day I'll just up and fly away from here."

**Author's Note:**

> Little story I've been plugging away at. I hope you'll like it!

He used to collect comic books filled with the stories of heroes who would fight and conquer the villains.  The bookshelves he had managed to overflow with his precious graphics, reminding him of how his life had once been, were becoming brittle with age and bending in strange places through the middle of each shelf.  Gingerly, elegant fingers slid one of the novels off of the topmost shelf and began to leaf through the pages; as though there was some sort of information important to him.  Glassy, blue eyes peered at each image, analyzing each of the characters as he pulled a few more comics off his shelves and started over to his small desk beside his bed.

  
Cluttered on the desk was scraps of papers mottled with drawings of a young man in a white suit; a blue suit; a suit with both; and multiple others.  Schoolwork lay abandoned off to the furthest corner, teetering on the edge and able to be knocked off by any amount of force.  The young man brushed the pages of the suits to the side and gently placed all his comics on the desk, beginning to pull open each of them and place them around in a semi-circle.

  
"How can I make a costume and not..." He tilted his head as he thought.  "I don't want to look like a conventional super-hero.  I'm no hero - I have no super powers.  I just wanna make a neat costume."  He pulled a sketchbook out and thumbed through to a blank page.  "I don't want a cape.  I so don't want a cape."  Sighing lightly, he spied his homework hanging onto the desk for dear life.  "Uuuuuurrrgh..." He groaned, closing his sketchbook and pulling his work over to him.  "My only superpower is getting good grades and praying to the gods that my Father doesn't beat me whenever he feels like being drunk." He paused.  "Oh, right.  That's every time he's home."

  
"Colin?"

  
Running a hand though his blond, short cropped hair, he turned his head to the closed door of his bedroom.  "Yeah, Mom?  What's up?"

  
"Are you doing you're homework?"

  
"Yeah, Mom.  Why?"

  
"Oh...Well, supper is ready."

  
"Is Russel home yet?"

  
"No...You're father is still at work."

  
"Okay.  I'll be down in a minute, Mom."

  
Hearing her steps retreating down the stairs, he sighed again as he looked down at his work.  He had already completed it at school during the lunch period; he was planning on just reviewing it just in case they had a pop quiz the next day.  "Guess I should go eat."

  
Slowly he stood and headed out of his room.  Turning down to the stairwell, he peered down and furrowed his brow.  His mother usually kept an incredibly immaculate house - especially the stairwell.  She started to do so ever since that became his father's favourite place to beat him whenever the man was drunk.  There was still some blood stains on the stark blue carpet and parts of the hardwood underneath.  Without thinking, Colin lightly tapped a finger on his left arm; feeling the bandaging underneath his long sleeved shirt he winced in reflex before tearing his gaze away from the stains.

  
Entering the kitchen, his mother threw him a detached glance his way before returning her grey-blue eyes back to her cross-word puzzle.  "It's in the oven." She offhandedly spoke, barely acknowledging he had really entered the room.

  
"Yeah." He served himself and sat in his spot of the small kitchenette table.  After a few moments of silence between the two, Colin sighed and looked up at his mother.  "Hey, Mom?"

  
"Yes, Colin?"

  
"Is everything alright?"

  
"Everything's fine, Colin."  She scratched a few letters down, never letting her gaze detach from the book.  
"O-okay." Colin dropped his eyes down to his meal - barely something of a pasta - and sighed again.  If he was one of her clients, he knew her meal would be one hundred percent better than this.  Hell, if his father was home it'd be better.  Never for him, though.  Never for Colin.  "How's work, Mom?"

  
"Can't you see I'm trying to concentrate, Colin?" She finally looked up at him, only to glare at the meek eyes looking up at her.  Her slightly pudgy cheeks dimpled from the excessive frown she was giving him as her bobbed black hair fell slightly into her face before she returned it to the puzzle.

  
Colin finished his meal in silence; quickly wolfing down the rest, cleaning his mess and escaping back to the safety of his room.  Locking his door and pushing his dresser in front of it, he slouched as he slowly approached his desk and dropped into the chair.  "Hopefully that'll keep him out when he comes home.  I have a test tomorrow in another class, and I wanna sleep." He dropped his head onto the desk and sighed.

   
_"One day I'll just up and fly away from here."_


	2. "I hope?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colin heading off to school; Sarah is adorable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Off to school c:  
> It'll pick up soon, with longer chapters

_"...and that concludes our coverage of last night's break and entry.  Now onto the weather with..."_

  
Colin peered out of his room, listening for any movement past the stairwell.  The TV was blaring its newsreel; his father only watched the news or sports whenever he was home.  Creeping out of his bedroom and sliding the door shut enough to barely hear the click of the latch, the teen pressed his back against the wall of the stairwell in order to avoid the squeaky steps.  On his way down, he noted that the bloodstains had turned a crusty brown and no effort to clean them had been made.  He cringed, thinking of what his father might do if he were still home - and still drunk.

  
Letting out a breath of air he hadn't realized he had been holding, he slid to the other end of the kitchen; he knew if he could just avoid going near the front of the house he could avoid his father altogether.  Stealing along the kitchen, he smiled in victory as he reached to side door of the house.  Holding his breath again, he pushed it open slightly and hoped the screen door had still some oil left in its hinges.  
Hearing no noise, he continued his task and stepped out onto the small landing that attached to the driveway.  He made it without a morning beating - today, that is.  Colin ran down his yard and sharply turned to his left, beginning to run to his neighbor's house.  Slowing himself to a jog, the teen peered into the dark bay window of their front room.  "Sarah!  You in there?" He stopped at the side of the driveway, his feet just barely touching the asphalt from the sidewalk.

  
"I'm over here!" A short, portly teen jumped out from inside the garage.  "I have to feed the cats, then I'll be right there!"

  
Colin smiled and nodded.  "Alright, just hurry up!  We have a test this morning, remember?"

  
"Oh, foo.  I didn't." She scrunched up her face and violently shook her head.  Grinning back at him, Sarah's deep brown eyes danced with energy.  "I'll be quick!"  Her chestnut hair flowed around as she spun and ran back into the building.  Within moments she was out again, locking the door and running down the driveway to meet him; her school skirt flying up as she ran.  "Ready to go!" Sarah smiled, smoothing her uniform back down and adjusting it to her larger body.

  
"Let's go then." Colin returned the smile at his friend and started down the sidewalk, towards their school.  
Along the way, Sarah regaled Colin of tales from her night: her brother taking the family tv from the main room and hiding it in his room; her mother practicing her grandmother's home recipe from Sri Lanka; her father insisting on helping her with her homework even though he barely made it through high school himself.  Colin listened, nodding whenever she looked up at him to make sure he was still paying attention.

  
"Oh!  Did you know that there was a robbery last night?" Sarah skipped ahead of the taller teen, trying to look him in the eyes.  "It was at the science museum: can you believe it?"

  
"The science museum?" Colin looked down at her, finally putting input.  "Why...Who would steal from a museum that probably is mostly just plastic replicas and boring trivia?"

  
"Apparently there was an artifact in the basement that this person wanted." Sarah's eyes sparkled as she returned her stride to his side.  "The curator couldn't tell the newscaster what it was though, so we have no idea."

  
"You're mum is part of the forensic division, yeah?"

  
"Yeah." Sarah tilted her head.  "But she won't tell us either."

  
"I wonder if it was some sort of mineral." Colin smiled when he watched her shrug.  "Well, as long as it has nothing to do with us, right?" He laughed as he looked ahead at the school coming into view over some houses.  "Almost there.  Are you sure you don't wanna play hooky?"

  
"You ask me that everyday, Colin." Sarah playfully jabbed him in the side.  "You know I'm not like my brother."

  
"Just making sure." He laughed again, pulling away from her prodding.  "No one would judge you if you said you were just trying to get away from the Cheerleader Queen."

  
"The Queen can bite my fat ass for all I care." Sarah rolled her eyes.  She then stuck her tongue out and made a face.  "For all I care she can fall offa that stupid body pyramid she's always the top of."

  
"Careful.  She has crazy good hearing and can hear an insult a mile away, remember." Colin playfully chastised, scanning the road around them just in case anyway.  "That's something I don't want to deal with first thing in the morning."

  
"That's true." Sarah sighed and shook her head.  "I guess we're here." She looked up at the large, brick building and sighed.  "Two more days till the weekend."

  
"You can hold out till then, right?" Colin laughed as he started up the cement stairway.

  
"I hope?" She slowly followed him, re-adjusting her backpack on her shoulders.


End file.
